Executive overview
For any UK general practice, the constant influx of fragmented inbound documents—from hospital discharge letters and outpatient results to administrative forms—can create significant administrative backlogs, clinical risk, and staff rework. An efficient and safe document workflow is no longer a "nice-to-have"; it's an operational necessity. The modern solution follows a clear pattern: a secure transfer, intelligent triage and coding, seamless filing to the clinical record, and a robust tasking and audit loop, all embedded within the practice's core systems.
This article provides a blueprint for a best-practice document workflow. We'll examine a technology stack at a glance: Docman for secure, standards-aligned transfer at scale; Anima for AI-powered summarisation, patient matching, and suggested coding; and the native document management modules within SystmOne or EMIS for filing and team-based tasking, with optional operational insights from EMIS-X Analytics (OneAdvanced, animahealth.com, TPP, starburst.io).
How documents actually flow today (end-to-end)
The journey of a clinical document from secondary to primary care is underpinned by established national infrastructure.
- Transfer: Secondary care providers typically send discharge summaries and clinical letters electronically to GP practices using systems like Clinical Document Transfer (formerly Docman Connect), which provides end-to-end encryption for security (OneAdvanced).
- Interoperability rails: This process is governed by national standards. GP Connect – Send/Access Documents standardises how documents and their associated metadata are synchronised into GP systems. The underlying secure transfer mechanism is often the NHS Messaging Exchange for Social Care and Health (MESH) (NHS England Digital).
- Practice layer: Once received, these items land in a practice-wide workflow solution—either a dedicated platform like Docman or the native Document Management modules within SystmOne or EMIS Web—ready for allocation, coding, and filing by the practice team (OneAdvanced, TPP).
What good looks like: six principles for safe, efficient processing
- Single source of truth: The ultimate goal is to file the document to the patient's EHR quickly and accurately. Avoid creating "shadow stores" or parallel archives.
- Triage with context: Summarise the document's key content and pre-match it to the correct patient on arrival to minimise errors and bounce-backs between staff.
- Code on first touch: Where possible, apply the relevant SNOMED codes when the document is first reviewed to reduce the size of "awaiting coding" queues.
- Clear ownership: Define clear rules for which documents are handled by which team (e.g., pharmacist, GP, or administrative staff).
- Versioned audit trail: The system must record who touched the document, what actions they took, and when.
- Insights loop: Use analytics to find operational bottlenecks, such as peak delivery times or common reasons for rework, to inform resourcing decisions (herohealthsoftware.net, starburst.io).
Tool roles—without overlap
The modern document workflow leverages a stack of specialised tools, each performing a distinct role.
Docman (Advanced): reliable, scalable transfer
- What it does: Docman is the national standard for delivering clinical correspondence from secondary care providers to GP practices. It is widely adopted by over 120 NHS Trusts and more than 6,000 practices (docman.com).
- Why it matters: It provides a secure, auditable, and reliable "pipe" that reduces paper handling and preserves the chain of custody for clinical documents.
Anima AI: triage, matching, summarisation, suggested codes
- What it does: Anima's AI-powered document processing tool sits at the front end of the practice workflow. It reads inbound documents, creates a concise summary of the key points and next steps, automatically matches the document to the correct patient in the EHR, and proposes relevant SNOMED codes and tasks (animahealth.com).
- Why it matters: It significantly cuts down on the manual handling time for each document and reduces the risk of human error in patient matching and initial coding before the document is formally filed.
SystmOne (TPP): native document management
- What it does: SystmOne includes a comprehensive Document Management module that allows practices to scan or import documents, link them to a patient, route them to specific teams or individuals, and add coding and annotations before filing to the record (TPP).
- Why it matters: It keeps the core tasks of filing, tasking, and accountability within the main clinical system, ensuring a single source of truth.
EMIS Web: Document Management & Workflow Manager
- What it does: Similar to SystmOne, EMIS Web provides team-based inboxes for documents that are awaiting coding or filing. It supports annotations, tasking to individuals, and the final "commit" of the document to the patient's record (herohealthsoftware.net).
- Why it matters: It aligns the administrative task of coding and filing with the everyday clinical workflow and fully supports the traffic from national standards like GP Connect.
Reference workflow (copy-ready checklist)
- Capture/ingest: The clinical letter is received electronically via Docman transfer (or a secure alternative like NHSmail/MESH).
- Pre-process: Anima automatically reads the document, matches it to the patient, creates a short summary, and suggests relevant SNOMED codes and next-step tasks.
- Allocate: The summarised document is routed to the appropriate clinical or administrative queue in EMIS Web or SystmOne (or the Docman practice module).
- Code & annotate: The assigned team member reviews the document and Anima's suggestions, accepting or adjusting the codes as needed.
- File to record: With a single click, the document and its associated codes are saved to the patient's record in EMIS or SystmOne, with a full audit trail.
- Task & notify: Any necessary follow-up actions (e.g., booking a recall, actioning a prescription change, sending a patient communication) are created and assigned.
- Audit & improve: The practice manager reviews a weekly dashboard on turnaround times, queue age, and rework rates, optionally using a tool like EMIS-X Analytics to spot trends.
Implementation plan for practice managers (30 / 60 / 90 days)
- Days 0–30: Map all your inbound document streams. Ensure your Docman routes are live and stable. Pilot Anima on one specific document stream (e.g., hospital discharge summaries) and capture baseline metrics on turnaround times and the size of your "awaiting coding" queue.
- Days 31–60: Standardise your SNOMED code lists and document ownership rules within EMIS/SystmOne. Enable the one-click saving feature from Anima to the EHR and publish a clear Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the new workflow.
- Days 61–90: Build a simple dashboard view in EMIS-X Analytics (if available) to monitor backlogs and peak times. Use this data to adjust staffing or rota allocations. Run a small audit on coding accuracy and safety.
Roles and quick wins (by team)
- Reception/Admin: Use Anima summaries to route documents to the correct clinician or team first time, significantly reducing internal bounce-backs.
- Pharmacy: Set up rules for automatically routing medication-change letters to the pharmacy team, with pre-coded tasks ready for review.
- GP/ANP: Spend less time on admin by reviewing and approving pre-coded documents, filing them to the record within the session via EMIS/SystmOne.
- Manager: Use EMIS-X Analytics signals to get a weekly overview of queue age and rework rates, allowing you to pivot resources proactively.
Governance, safety and interoperability (UK specifics)
- Data flow & standards: The entire workflow should be underpinned by national standards like GP Connect (Send/Access Documents) and MESH for trustworthy data transfer.
- Operational controls: Mandate human verification of all AI-suggested codes and summaries before filing. Maintain clear audit trails and ensure your process is aligned with your local Information Governance policies and DPIA.
- Change control: Keep versioned SOPs for your coding lists and task hand-offs, and schedule a quarterly review to ensure the process remains efficient and safe.
Risks & mitigations
- Mis-filing/mis-matching: Keep a two-factor human check in place before the final save to the record. Conduct a weekly sample audit of filed documents to check for errors.
- Coding drift: Maintain a master list of agreed-upon SNOMED codes for common documents. Lock any templates where possible and review the acceptance rates of AI-suggested codes periodically.
- Duplicate stores: Avoid creating parallel document archives. The EHR must be the single source of truth. Use "link to original" references only where absolutely necessary.
FAQ (captures navigational searches)
- Does Docman send directly into GP systems?
- Docman delivers clinical correspondence securely to GP practices nationwide, where it is then processed and filed into the local GP system like EMIS or SystmOne.
- Can Anima save straight to EMIS or SystmOne?
- Yes, after a clinician or administrator has reviewed the document and the AI's suggestions, Anima allows for a one-click save directly to the patient's record in the EHR.
- Where do teams action and file items?
- The final actioning, annotation, and filing of documents takes place within the native modules of the core clinical system, such as EMIS Web's Document Management or Workflow Manager, or SystmOne's Document Management module.
Close
An optimal document workflow brings together best-in-class tools for each step of the process: Docman for the secure transfer pipe, Anima for the intelligent triage and coding lift, and EMIS/SystmOne for the definitive clinical record. Start by piloting this stack on a single document stream, measure the improvements in turnaround time and rework rate, and then scale the pattern practice-wide.